


Take the Wheel

by kaguya_yoru



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Gen, Panic, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 06:37:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2057664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaguya_yoru/pseuds/kaguya_yoru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper falls apart. Natalie helps to pick up the pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take the Wheel

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains a description of a panic/anxiety attack. While not particularly graphic, if you don't like reading about characters being uncomfortable or feeling anxious, please heed your own triggers and proceed accordingly.

Pepper wished she’d hadn’t worn a pencil skirt today.

Normally she loved the sleek look of the body-hugging line. Smoothing the fabric over her hips was the last step in her morning ritual that allowed her to adopt the pleasant neutral expression she had perfected over the years to deal with Tony Stark’s outrageous demands. In a pencil skirt she felt poised, ready to strike at a moment’s notice with a new contract for Tony to sign or to implement a last minute change in his schedule.

But today she felt like she was unraveling at every seam. If she were truly honest with herself, she’d felt this way ever since Tony had walked off the plane at Rhodey’s side with a sling on his arm. Her carefully cultivated calm expression had fallen to pieces at the sight of him. And ever since, the monsters had seemingly come out of the woodworks. Not the easily dealt with shareholders attempting to railroad her into ludicrous concessions, but the true devils. Like Obadiah Stane with the familiar face and false grin or the complete stranger today who had thought nothing of walking onto a racetrack to sow chaos.

She was coming apart and the fabric zipped tight around her waist and hobbling her footsteps made her feel like she couldn’t breathe. She finally reached her destination and swiped her keycard through the slot. Her shoes sank into the plush white carpet as she entered the hotel room and all she could think about was likewise sinking into the king-sized bed waiting in the other room of the suite. The hotel door swung shut behind her and she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall beside it, suppressing a shiver upon feeling the cool textured wallpaper against her back. Her cheeks felt flushed but her hands were ice cold. She wasn’t sure which she desired more: a cool drink of water or to just huddle under the covers for a while.

Her mind ran through all the things that needed to be done. Statements that needed to be made. Flights that needed to be booked. Conferences that needed to be had. All the fires that needed to be put out, sparked into existence by a single maniac with a knockoff arc reactor and an unknown motive. She attempted to gather her thoughts but every time she thought she’d gotten somewhere, they scattered. Her hands slowly curled into tight fists as she found herself going over the first three items on her list over and over. Her chest felt tight, her breaths shallow, and if she could just get some air, she could just, she could -

Warm hands grasped her wrists and her eyes flew open on a gasp.

“Ms. Potts?” Green eyes beneath a furrowed brow peered at her and she crumbled. She was dimly aware of being led to the small settee in the sitting room and those hands holding tight onto hers as the tears finally trickled to a halt several minutes later. She dabbed at her eyes with the tissue that had been pushed into her fist at some point.

Her companion stood. “I’ve scheduled a meeting with the shareholders in two days’ time, but I suspect you’ll be fielding calls from them anyway,” she said as she moved around the room. A few tears still blurred Pepper’s vision, but she blinked them away rather than let them fall. “A preliminary press release is waiting for your edits and approval on the flash drive on the coffee table. I’ve sent word for your private jet to be ready and waiting to take you back to Malibu as soon as Mr. Stark returns.”

Pepper’s eyes focused in time to see a slim, manicured hand place a cup of pale green tea in front of her. “You’ll probably want coffee later, but I thought you might like some green tea with honey and ginger to start.” A brief quirk of ruby red lips was all she glimpsed before curly dark red hair swung forward to obscure her sight.

“Will there be anything else, Ms. Potts?”

Pepper stared at the ripples calming in the surface of the green tea as she jerkily shook her head.

She was almost at the door when Pepper abruptly twisted around and said, “Natalie?” her voice a shrill, sharp note that hung in the air between them. Pepper didn’t know what she was asking. She didn’t know what she wanted from her. Everything that could have been done without her had been done.

Natalie paused in the doorway to the sitting room but didn’t turn around. The late afternoon sun pouring through the floor to ceiling windows highlighted her curves and made her bright coral dress glow.

“Your outfit is on the bed,” she said after a moment, her head turned just enough for the words to reach but that curtain of hair preventing Pepper from seeing the expression on her face. “It’s time to go to work, Ms. Potts.”

She disappeared around the corner of the hotel room wall; after a moment, Pepper heard the soft snick of the hotel door closing.

She faced forward and stared unseeing for a long moment. The muted tick of the analog alarm clock on the bedroom nightstand gradually began to register in her mind. Leaning forward, she picked up the teacup; it rattled against the saucer as she did so and she hurried to steady it with her other hand. Pale green liquid slid smoothly down to her stomach, warming her from the inside without burning her tongue. The sweetness of the honey soothed her throat, raw from screaming, and the bite of ginger gave her some much-needed energy. By the time she placed the empty teacup back on its saucer, her hand was steady once more.

In the en-suite bathroom, she took her time in the shower, lathering her hair until it squeaked and letting the warm water chase away the last of the chills. Steam billowed out of the bathroom when she opened the door to clear the fog from the mirror. The sudden rush of cool air made her skin tingle. While wrapping a towel around her hair and bundling herself into a large terrycloth robe, she felt almost herself again.

The dress lying on the bed was not one from her closet and neither were the nearby undergarments. She let the robe drop to the floor. The bra and panties had lace accents but were of solid construction, molding perfectly to her body with no bunching or pinching. She had some trouble getting the dress on without upsetting the towel wrapped around her hair, but the silky yet heavy enough to feel substantial material eventually flowed over her. The skirt swirled around her legs with every movement, the built-in liner keeping it from clinging. Looking in the mirror as she cinched the belt at the waist, thoughts flitted through her head of all she had yet to do.

She took a deep breath.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note [here](http://kaguya-yoru.tumblr.com/post/93640913686/authors-note-on-take-the-wheel)


End file.
